1HE IRRIGATION AGE. 



American Beet Sugar Company, and are 

 at Grand Junction, Rocky Ford and Sugar 

 City, and when fully completed will em- 

 ploy. thousands of hands. 



" Statistics indicate that the United 

 States consumes more sugar than any 

 other nation or appioximately one-quarter 

 of the whole of the world's product. The 

 conditions of soil, climate, and other ad- 

 vantages are quite as good in the United 

 States, and especially in Colorado, Ne- 

 braska and Illinois for the development of 

 the beet as in any of the country of 

 Europe or Asia. The world's production 

 and consumption of sugar is now about 

 8,250,000 tons per annum, two thirds of 

 which is produced from beet and only one- 

 third from cane, whilst the normal con- 

 sumption is estimated as incrsasing at the 

 rate of 250 000 tons yearly. 



" The success attending the cultivation 

 of sugar beet in this district has proved 

 that it may be made a profitable and suc- 

 cessful investment. A large factory has 

 been built at Rocky Ford, Colo., which 

 cost $200.000 to build and equip. It is 

 proposed to have it ready for the crop of 

 the coming season. To supply it the far- 

 mers in the vicinity have contracted to 

 grow 8,000 acres of beets a year for five 

 years. From tests made, they estimate 

 their beets will yield 15 to 18 per cent of 

 sugar. The factory, when running at its 

 full capacity, will consume daily 1,000 

 tons of beets, which it will convert into 

 about 100 to is of refined sugar of the high- 

 est purity. The beets reach maturity with 

 a high percentage, and seldom go below 

 15 per cent, 12 per cent is taken as the 

 basis of buying beets at the factory. 



" The beets are grown by the farmers 

 under contract with the factory, and paid 

 for according to the saccharine contents 

 determined by chemical tests made of 

 samples taken from the wagons at the 

 time of delivery. In addition, the factory 

 controls about 5,000 acres of land. Most 

 of the land will be farmed by tenants, but 



only a portion of each farm is devoted to 

 beets each year. Growers sell thteir beets 

 based upon the sugar contents. The tests 

 somewhat resemble the assaying of ore 

 from the mines. Selling upon this basis 

 encourages better farming and the raising 

 of better beets. It is the only fair way, 

 both to the raiser and the manufacturer. 



"At Sugar City o>: a farm of 12 000 acres 

 afactoryhas been built with a capacity of 

 500 tons every 24 hours. On the farm 1.000 

 men and women have been employed-during 

 the summer, and this season's crop will be 

 converted into sugar. The establishment 

 of the sugar factory at this point built the 

 town, which a few years ago consisted of a 

 hut or two and thousands of prarire dogs. 

 Next year fully 4.000 acres of beets will be 

 in cultivation. The output will be in- 

 creased as rapidly as possible, and every 

 day the demand for workmen is increas- 

 ing. 



"A general estimate of the cost of con- 

 struction, cost of operation, and general 

 results to be counted upon, of beet sugar 

 factories in this district, as taken from the 

 Rocky Ford plant places the general aver- 

 age of sugar in the beets at 12 per cent. 

 So far as the Arkansas Valley in Colorado 

 is concerned, this percentage is being 

 largely exceeded; the minimum percentage 

 of f-ugar being about 14 per cent, while 

 the maximum has reached 23 per cent, 

 with a coefficient of purity ranging from 

 89 to 95 per cent. In stating these re- 

 sults, reference is especially made to the 

 factory at Rocky Ford, built and worked 

 by the American Beet Sugar Company, a 

 New York corporation, which works two 

 factories in California and three in Ne- 

 braska, the one at Rocky Ford being their 

 fifth. The experts in charge of this last 

 factory all express surprise at the results 

 of this first campaign, and they have be- 

 come thoroughtly convinced that this val- 

 ley (Arkansas Valley, Col.) is the ideal 

 sugar-producer, thanks to its equable cli- 

 mate, ample supply of water for irriga- 



